Grand National winner Maguire to miss Cheltenham

Grand National winning jockey Jason Maguire is to miss the Cheltenham Festival after suffering a fractured sternum and bleeding on the liver in a heavy fall at Stratford on Monday.

Maguire was unseated from Scots Gaelic during a two-mile handicap hurdle race and kicked in the stomach by a passing horse. The meet was severely delayed as Maguire was airlifted to University Hospital Coventry.

He had been booked to ride three rides on the opening day of British jump racing's biggest festival.

"He's definitely out of Cheltenham and his wife, Lauren, is with him," Niall Hannity, a friend of the jockey, said from the hospital.